


Trail of Bones

by Koayyy



Category: Super Smash Brothers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Creepy, Emotional Manipulation, Gen, Persona 5 Spoilers, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:15:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21742819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Koayyy/pseuds/Koayyy
Summary: The Hands bring the first new challenger to their beloved 'Ultimate' Tournament after its commencement. Joker accepts the invitation and joins with the Mementos stage, but something is strange about the fighter. His fighting style and mannerisms are unlike that of a hero, the demon that appears from his shadow sends chills down their spines.This Joker has made a deal with a false god, and is looking to steal the show like a cat playing with his food.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 30





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Some elements present in this fic take from [this beloved monster of a fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17470526/chapters/41142389) so please read that one for more on those elements! Enjoy!

The Announcer’s voice booms through the speakers as the fighters are relaxing in one of the larger lobbies. He starts speaking of the first new fighter to join the fifth rendition of the Smash Bros Tournament after the start of the matches, and all the fighters make haste to the ballroom of the hotel. Some of the smaller ones almost get stepped on.

Chatter is present and fills the room, the excitement almost fit to explode the walls apart from the large ballroom. Robin holds his tome close to his chest as he continues to listen to Chrom.

“Who do you think it’ll be?” Chrom stops in his rambling and asks. Robin holds his tome upwards to lean his chin on it as he thought.

“Other than that one time they said they were of worlds not already connected, there’s no other information,” Robin starts, he hopes Chrom can hear his voice over the others. “That opens up the possibility of almost anyone.”

“But they’ll definitely be a challenge, right?”

“Of course, since that’s what they promised,” Robin says, turning around when someone bumps into him. He’s greeted by the sight of the younger Link, who offers a nod in apology.

Robin nods back. No one can do anything when Donkey Kong is as excited as this, but most didn’t care as they were equally as excited, just not physically. He could see Reflect, Corrin, and Kamui gesturing as they talk, but he can’t hear even a throwaway line of their conversation.

The excitement contained in the room rises and rises as the time passes, waiting for their newcomer to show up. Which is why everyone is caught off guard when the lights turn off.

“What’s the meaning of this!?” comes a shout, it’s Ganondorf from across the room.

“Did we lose power!?” Pit shouts next.

There are a few more shouts and sounds of terrified Pokemon and people, until silence reigns when a pair of golden eyes shine in the dark.

Everyone holds their breath. From the golden eyes births red eyes that seemingly grow taller, then a part of the room is lit up when blue flames sprout from the ground.

Robin can only describe the owner of the red eyes as a large winged demon. The demon unfurls their wings and the resulting wind cuts through them, causing Robin to close his eyes against it. Some of the fighters are blown away, but he opens his eyes to the sight of someone under the demon.

A black haired teenager in a black trench coat and red gleaming gloves stares back, his white mask doing nothing to hide the golden glimmer in his eyes. A chill runs down Robin’s spine.

Then the lights turn on, and the golden glimmer disappears into a sea of lead grey. The red eyed demon disappears, leaving the teenager as the only proof of his existence.

“Welcome to the Super Smash Brothers Tournament, Joker,” the Announcer says, after a quiet moment. The teenager—Joker—nods as his only reply.

None of the fighters open their mouth, waiting for the newcomer to speak. The moment passes with no signs of Joker speaking.

“Any words?” the Announcer asks, and Robin can hear a hint of confusion in their booming tone. Joker scans the room with his eyes, then he finally opens his mouth.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Joker says with a bow. When he straightens back up, everyone is given a clear view.

Joker smiles with all of his teeth, as if baring fangs. The other fighters seem to pay it no mind as they clap for their new fighter. Robin only joins in the clapping once he shakes himself out of his shock.

He’s not one to judge others by their first impression, but he continues to feel an unpleasant feeling in his gut long after Joker is escorted to his living quarters.

* * *

The first match involving their newcomer is on, and everyone not participating is sitting in the floating stands to watch. No one is going to pass up a chance to observe their new fighter in action, they are after all, competitors.

Even Dr Mario is outside of his clinic and in the spectators’ seats. Joker’s first appearance made a very big impression on these humans, it seems.

Ridley watches with his arms crossed and wings folded. Joker is a human, and calls himself a ‘Phantom Thief’. He doesn’t know what to expect from him, but yet only minutes after the match starts does he find a word to describe him.

Ruthless. Joker’s fighting style is utterly ruthless, and that’s coming from the cunning God of Death himself.

On the black and red stage called ‘Mementos’, Joker slashes for Captain Falcon’s neck. He nicks the scarf, but not the neck. Pity.

On the other side of the stage are Ganondorf and Ike, paying too much attention to each other to see Joker’s attacks. Ike slashes with his sword and sends Ganondorf plunging to the blast zone.

Captain Falcon does a shoulder tackle, which is absorbed as a blue glow swallows Joker with a touch of his mask. Joker slashes back, and this time he makes a pretty cut on Captain Falcon’s shoulder.

Ridley momentarily looks away as Ganondorf respawns. It’s rare for the spectators’ seats to be this quiet, usually they are busy placing bets as they watched. As he glances over the fighters, he identifies two types of quiet.

Some were quiet because they are in deep thought about strategies and countering techniques, the others are quiet due to shock.

When he looks back, there’s a Smash Ball floating on the field. Everyone fights for it, except for Joker who is a distance away. What is he doing just standing there?

Ridley’s question is soon answered. Ganondorf does his double kick and his second kick would break the ball, but he doesn’t get the chance. Joker pulls a gun out from nowhere and shoots. The single bullet breaks the ball and the stage darkens as Joker is surrounded by a rainbow aura, radiating power.

Ganondorf lands back onto the platform, blocking the view of Ike and Captain Falcon. Ridley spots the evil, evil smirk on Joker’s face.

“Ravage them!”

Joker rushes forward at blinding speed, and with his knife coated in black energy gashes all three other fighters. As the fighters are frozen in place, he rips his mask off and the demon appears behind him.

The stage turns dark, but all the spectators see the demon change. From its red clothing sprouts bones, moving like appendages with sharp, sharp ends. Black claws become bones with still-rotting flesh. The black wings become more defined, red cobwebs appear on the feathers as the outer wing is covered in gold.

All other changes are covered by the dark, leaving the spectators with two golden eyes.

Then as quickly as the dark settled in, the light comes back along with the stage. Ike and Captain Falcon disintegrate from existence in the familiar way they’ve seen happen with other Final Smashes, leaving Ganondorf with his last stock against Joker’s two.

Joker quickly takes care of him, and the game is set. Ridley doesn’t stay for the winning screen as he turns and walks away.

Ridley meets Ganondorf in the villain club, as he doesn’t have any matches scheduled later. He’s seated at the large, round table, so Ridley drags a chair with his tail and sits across from him.

He doesn’t even need to say anything, Ganondorf is already speaking.

“There were eyes on us, on that stage,” Ganondorf starts, “not your usual spectators, but something more, something like us.”

“Something more evil than us?” Ridley asks, he doubts there’s anything worse out there than the ones already here in the villain club.

“The last few moments after his Final Smash, the place smelled completely vile, worse than the corpses I’m used to,” Ganondorf says, holding his head with a hand, his elbow digging into the wooden table. “My lungs were burning, and it smelled _wrong_.”

Humans were boring, even if Ridley was weaker thanks to the Hands after entering this competition. Maybe, just maybe this mysterious and _off_ human will give him a show enough to sate his appetite.

* * *

During lunch time in the cafeteria, Leaf holds her tray of food as she scans the area for a spot. Her eyes land on the lone person at one of the tables, sticking out like a sore thumb with his black hair against the white tables, chairs, and walls around him. It reminds her of what she had said to Red that morning.

“He might be lonely, he hasn’t even joined a group yet,” Leaf had said, seated under a tree as their six Pokemon ran across the field, play fighting with each other.

“I understand, Leaf. Outside of fights, he’s nice and knows everyone. That’s already better than the villains,” Red said, he had looked very worried at her train of thoughts.

“But the villains have their own club. He’s a hero, I think,” Leaf said with a look of hesitance, but plunged ahead anyway. “And yet he’s all by himself.”

“How can you be sure he’s a hero?” Red said, and that was the end of that topic.

Leaf shakes her head to get the words out. Red is just being overly cautious! Sure, Joker was... scary, inside fights, but outside of it he’s nice! She doesn’t get why everyone is keeping their distance from him.

With newfound determination, she walks over towards the table.

“Is this seat taken?” she asks, referring to the seat directly across from him. Joker looks up, his eyes widen for a second before they return to their usual unreadable state. He shakes his head.

Leaf takes her seat as Joker pushes his glasses up. Outside of fights, Joker always wears a light grey hoodie and glasses. Looking at him now, it’s almost impossible to connect him to how he’s like during fights.

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything!” Leaf says then takes a bite out of her lunch. Delicious as usual.

Joker shakes his head, then goes back to his food. It was slightly unnerving how quiet he can be, even while eating.

“Well!” Leaf suddenly says, breaking the silence. Joker looks up to stare at her. “I have no fights later, so I’m thinking of taking my Pokemon for a walk in the gardens. Would you like to join us?”

Joker looks away, probably thinking. Leaf waits patiently for him to open his mouth when the doors to the cafeteria burst open with no warning.

Most of the people in the cafeteria jump in their seats, and turn to look at the kneeling form of King K. Rool. He kneels on the floor with his forehead touching the floor, his crown nowhere to be seen.

King K. Rool opens his jaws and chomps several times, as if trying to convey something to the rest of the cafeteria. The sounds of his jaw combined with the sobs makes the entire cafeteria silent. There’s a small puddle of... tears? As he presses his forehead against the ground.

King Dedede and his group ignores their lunches to go to K. Rool’s side, trying to convince him to get off of the floor. The others watch on as Kirby gives him a pat and a sad sounding ‘Poyo...’

Leaf looks to the table of villains, and they are tenser than usual. A moment later, all of them get out of their seats and go to K. Rool too. Should... should she go over too, or let the others help?

She looks over to another table, and Red looks back. He shakes his head, and she lets out a little sigh. She startles when she hears a quiet voice, and turns back to the person sitting across from her.

“If you don’t mind,” Joker says, a hand moving to hold the back of his neck. He’s looking downwards, so Leaf can’t see his expression with his hair in the way, but she’s happy that he accepted her offer.

Leaf completely shovels down her food despite the commotion at the other end. She watches K. Rool and the others as she waits for Joker to finish his, but he gets up after only eating half of it. She wants to comment on it, but doesn’t think she’s in the right place for it yet.

The thoughts are stuffed in a bag and thrown into the back of her mind the moment she’s in the garden and throwing her Pokéballs in the air. Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard appear and greet her with hugs.

“Guys, guys it was just an hour!” Leaf says, but it’s no use as her Pokémon attack her with affection. She soaks it in for another moment, then reluctantly forces them off.

“Squirtle, Ivysaur, Charizard, this is–,” she starts the introduction, but she’s cut off when all of her Pokémon back away.

Squirtle clutches her leg as they hide behind it, Ivysaur continues to take another step back, and Charizard looks like they’re ready to Flare Blitz Joker right then and there.

“Whoa whoa guys, calm down!” Leaf says as she waves her hands around. Squirtle and Ivysaur pause to look at her, but Charizard is still not taking their eyes off of Joker.

She turns to Joker, who somehow looks completely neutral despite how Charizard has fire gathering in his mouth.

“Sorry about these guys, this is the first time this has happened,” Leaf says as she walks over to begin stroking Charizard’s head, calming them down. They didn’t react this badly, even to the villains of Smash.

“It’s okay,” Joker says, holding out a hesitant hand. Charizard must’ve given a particular glare, because the hand is retracted quickly.

“Charizard, play nice,” Leaf scolds with a pat on Charizard’s head. Charizard’s cry sounds like they’re annoyed, but Leaf is distracted by something bump against her leg.

Squirtle and Ivysaur are right behind her now. There was something in their eyes, but she’s not too sure she’s reading them right. Why are they so unfriendly towards Joker?

Joker lets out a sigh, and Leaf turns to look at him without delay. This is the first time she’s heard him sigh.

“Animals don’t really like me, so I guess that includes Pokémon too,” Joker says, a certain sadness in his voice.

He came with her despite being able to guess it would’ve ended up like this? Now she feels extra bad for her Pokémon’s behaviour. Joker seems nice, he doesn’t deserve such hate from Pokémon! Especially hers!

Leaf looks to her Pokémon, and Charizard’s cry this time makes them sound like they’re even more annoyed. Squirtle is shaking their head, and Ivysaur is giving her a look.

What she would give for them to work with her just for this once.

“It’s fine, I’ll go,” Joker says, then turns away as he heads back towards the hotel. Leaf shouts at him to wait, but he either doesn’t hear her or ignores her as he continues to walk.

His back disappears into the hotel before she can do anything else. Leaf sighs at her failure of an attempt to get Joker to open up.

For the rest of the afternoon, her Pokémon continue acting strange. It feels like they’re trying to tell her something, but she just doesn’t understand them. Even by the end of the day, they’re still shooting her glances when they think she isn’t looking.

* * *

When he had first gotten the letter and read it once, he sat at his deck in shock for a moment. The idea that there were more universes out there, and that they were all connected due to this tournament was a completely new concept to him.

But it wasn’t unwelcome. The thought of having another universe—No, the entire multiverse—in the palm of his hand was exhilarating. Yaldabaoth speaks in agreement with him.

So he had accepted without much complaint. The Hands had stated they will select the stage inspired by his realm, and when he was told it was Mementos, he couldn’t help but laugh. Everything was coming together, and he didn’t even need to lift a finger.

Yaldabaoth made sure to seep their influence into the stage, hiding the Depths behind a particular hidden door that leads down. The Mementos Depths of the multiverse was empty when he first found it, but within a week the place already has a handful of prisoners.

Within the Smash fighters, he went after the villains first. When trying to lay low, he went for the creatures residing in Smashville. The process was like clockwork, one fighter, a particular closed group of creatures in Smashville, and then another fighter.

By the time the entire villain club was crossed off his list, he was already starting to get bored. Especially when the rest didn’t seem to require fighting.

Finding the Shadow of fighters that either couldn’t talk or chose not to communicate often, he planted doubts in their heads and guided them towards the Depths.

“You’re always second to your brother no matter what you do, what’s even the point in fighting against your anxieties?” Joker says to Shadow Luigi with crossed arms. Shadow Luigi continues to cower in his hidden room residing at a higher level of Mementos. “Wouldn’t staying in your comfort zone feel better than always getting second place?”

Shadow Luigi still trembles in fear, but he looks like he is considering his words. Good.

“If you want to escape the suffering, take the train to the bottom,” Joker says, and then leaves the room for the words to sink in.

Yaldabaoth will inform him when Shadow Luigi enters the Depths. Crossing off his mental list, he turns to go deeper to find Palutena’s Shadow. Palutena seemed to keep to herself, so she should be a good start at chipping away the group of mothers she’s a part of.

On the way towards her, he takes his time and his mind drifts off to Pit and Dark Pit. Changing Pit would make Dark Pit suspicious, so the logical choice would be to go for Dark first. Taking a loner wouldn’t be a challenge.

But where’s the fun if he steals all the hearts, and no one is left to stop him? Suddenly changing only Pit seemed to be the choice that shined brighter in his mind. Maybe leaving some stronger prey for his last meal would taste better.

He makes his choice after he watches Palutena’s Shadow kneel on the floor. Talking to Pit is easier than he expects, so he turns in the direction towards the door between the Depths and the normal stage. He’s ahead of his schedule today.

To give himself credit, Yaldabaoth only asks when he’s only a floor away from the door, and not right as he passes Dark Pit’s Shadow.

“What’s the meaning of this, have you perhaps gone soft?” Yaldabaoth asks, the mocking in his voice is as subtle as a gunshot.

“No,” Joker says as he stops before the corridor to the door. He makes sure to face the path towards the Depths before he spoke any more, Yaldabaoth does quite enjoy his respect. “Just thought leaving Pittoo would make a fun fight later, especially if he starts spilling his guts about Pit.”

Dark Pit did have too much bark and no bite. Maybe letting him place hope within a small team would make for a better platter to savour.

“Playing with your food, are you?” Yaldabaoth says, his question is rhetorical and they both know it.

“I like to think I’m learning from My God,” Joker says with a chuckle. Yaldabaoth did hide himself in the form of Igor for the better half of the year, after all.

Yaldabaoth lets out a sinister little laugh, the veins in the Depths moving in tune with his amusement.

“Don’t get too cocky, Trickster. Underestimating them will only lead to defeat,” Yaldabaoth says, his tone much more pleasant than before. The God really did like his compliments.

“I won’t bite off more than I can chew,” Joker says as he turns towards the door, his coat-tails flapping behind him. He doesn’t wait for a reply before opening the door and leaving through it.

He leaves the teleportation gate like a shadow, slipping by the cameras in the cover of darkness. When he gets to his room, he lets a little laugh slip as he mentally went through his plan. He can’t wait for his work to be stewed to perfection.

Luckily for him, he doesn’t need to wait for too long. He only needs to wait for a mere few days after the end of his plan until the remaining fighters realise the wrongness around them. They choose to gather in a meeting room to discuss about it.

“We need to get to the bottom of this!” Mario shouts as he slaps his gloved palm onto the table.

“It seems we are the only ones that responded,” Zelda says as she looks around the room.

Mario and a few others had went and talked to a large portion of the fighters, about how the entire atmosphere of the Smash Hotel has changed in a strange, slow way. They had varying reactions, but if they were bothered about it then they would gather in meeting room number five to discuss about it in three days’ time.

The only ones that ended showing up are Mario, Zelda, Samus, Kirby, Fox, Lucina, Dark Pit, and Isabelle. The fragments of the various small groups of fighters sitting in the same room is a strange new experience for them.

“Don’t bother with them, they’re too dumb to see the wrongness,” Dark Pit says, crossing his arms as he brings his legs up onto the table. Lucina gives him a look.

“This isn’t the time to be discouraged,” Samus says, nodding to Zelda. Zelda gives a grateful nod back.

“Poyo!” Kirby says, lifting his nubs into the air. He seems to be trying to encourage her, too.

“What are we supposed to do?” Fox asks, looking around the room. “Without solid evidence, the Hands won’t do anything. We’re most likely on our own for this.”

“Then we better get started,” Samus says, “any leads on what exactly is happening to the place?”

Everyone in the room looks towards Zelda, and she almost jumps at their gazes.

“Well,” Zelda starts, leaning her cheek onto two of her fingers. “It seems the personality of the other fighters have all changed. The most evident is all of the villains.”

“Yeah, I almost had a heart attack when Wolf willingly came up to me and started a conversation,” Fox says, shuddering at the prospect of his enemy suddenly becoming all buddy-buddy with him. It just feels wrong.

“Ridley becoming friends with anyone outside of the villains almost made me jump out of my suit,” Samus says, recalling Ridley talking to the ‘Righters’ group as if they were best friends.

“The winged dingus is so brainless he wouldn’t know death until it punched him, but he’s not the type to simply give up on what he wants,” Dark Pit says, raising a hand to gesture.

More examples are brought to the table, and everyone present agrees with the disturbing changes. Until they all turn to the one person that hasn’t brought up anything.

Isabelle shrinks in her chair when the gazes are all on her.

“What about you, Isabelle?” Lucina asks, adding a nod when Isabelle looks hesitant.

“Um,” Isabelle starts, twiddling with her hands in her lap. “The villagers and mayor have been pushing their decisions on me, like they don’t want to do it. I was just wondering about that, so...”

Zelda hums, Samus nods. Lucina gestures for her to go on, if she has anything more to speak. The rest watch on without opening their mouth.

“They don’t seem as playful as they used to, either! Like they’ve lost their energy, I guess?” Isabelle says, then lets out a breath of air as she finishes.

The others in the room are quiet as they consider her words. It answers their question of what’s going on, but the elephant in the room is still not being addressed.

“What should we do?” Mario asks as he paces the room. He’s the only one standing, and seems to have taken the reins of the operation. The others aren’t fighting him for it.

His question is greeted by a silent room. As the others shuffled through their brains, Isabelle notices Kirby looking on all of them with worry in his eyes.

“Poyo...” Kirby says, sadness coating the two syllables. Isabelle raises her gaze and waves to get his attention.

“It’s okay, we’ll figure it out,” Isabelle says, and Kirby lights up at her words. She’s happy Kirby seems to trust her words, and she hopes they can really figure this out...

“Wait,” Lucina says, and the attention of the room is on her. “Do you remember what Mewtwo said?”

“Mewtwo?” Fox asks, when she nods, he looks downwards again as he thinks. “I don’t particularly remember anything from him...”

“I don’t remember exactly, but I think it’s a hint,” Lucina says, placing her arms onto the table. “He said something about the stages.”

“The stages? What about them?” Dark Pit asks, sounding very doubtful of the only lead they have.

Mario seems to stop pacing, and shoots over to the table. “Mementos, let’s-a go investigate it.”

“Right now?” Samus asks, and Isabelle can feel her raised eyebrow even when it’s hidden behind her helmet.

“Get your things, we’ll meet there in ten minutes.”

* * *

He goes back up to his room to grab his weapons, both his staff and his bow. As usual, he ignores all the fighters he passes as he down the elevator. When he passes by Joker, he gives him a wide berth.

Dark Pit doesn’t trust the guy as far as he could shoot him. This is especially with most of the fighters changing and what their little operation intend to do in a few minutes. Joker being himself drove him up a wall, but the one thing he truly dislikes from him is his smile. It pisses him off for a reason he can’t put his finger on.

It doesn’t matter, he has more important things to focus on right now.

He reaches the teleportation gate that leads to the stages, and is surprised he’s not alone. Zelda and Kirby are already standing to the side, talking about something.

Or at least Kirby is talking. He’s babbling something as Zelda occasionally hums and nods. Dark Pit wonders if Zelda actually understands what she’s listening to.

As he gets closer, Kirby turns around and greets him with his two nubs raised, “Poyo!”

“You’re early, Dark Pit,” Zelda says, a hint of surprise in her tone.

“I just want to get this over with,” Dark Pit says with crossed arms. It’s not exactly a lie, he wants Pit to go back to normal as quickly as possible. He doesn’t want to accidentally snap and sock the guy a new one.

“I understand,” Zelda says with a nod. “I want the three Links to change back, too.”

Dark Pit couldn’t tell what exactly was different about the three Links, but for good reason. He isn’t exactly friends with them, so he wouldn’t notice unless it was pointed out right in front of his face.

Small talk isn’t his forte, so he’s saved when he hears the footsteps of a few others approaching. He turns to see the rest of the group armed and ready.

“All ready?” Samus asks as she checks over her gun.

“As ready as we can be,” Fox says, then lets out a sigh. Kirby follows him up with an excited ‘Poyo!’

“Then let’s not waste time,” Dark Pit says, then walks towards the teleportation gate. The rest follow at his heels.

He closes his eyes when the familiar energy gathers around him, gracefully landing on the platform of the stage when he opens his eyes. He doesn’t look to see if the others have a smooth landing, instead already starting his search.

Their search takes a while, and they’re almost fruitless until Isabelle notices something and calls everyone.

She points to the black and red train that has pulled up beside their platform, sitting there with the doors open as if waiting for them. Dark Pit doesn’t like the fact that he can only see red light beyond the doors, the piercing colour blocking what their future might present.

Lucina takes the first step and enters it. This snaps the rest out of their hesitation and they go in one by one. Dark Pit leaves himself for last out of caution, and not out of hesitation.

He walks in after Isabelle. When he opens his eyes, he hears the sound of very loud footsteps. His eyes are greeted by a long diagonal staircase with no end in sight.

There’s not enough space in this narrow black staircase to even spread his wings, so he resorts to using his legs to go down the stairs. While he’s behind Isabelle, he tries to keep an eye ahead of her to spot any incoming threats.

Fortunately, they reach the end of the staircase without any trouble. After the staircase is a dim yet large open area, the platforms all in the same shade of black and red. But Dark Pit doesn’t miss the large bones in the distance, and it reminds him of Joker’s Final Smash.

He shakes the thought away. No, his hand is not trembling. He’s just holding onto his bow a bit too tightly. He needs to be prepared.

They pass by several open platforms connected by paths. Mario is leading them towards the tall structure with a closed door on it, and so they follow while keeping an eye out. Fox walks forward and opens the door for them, impatience in his every action.

They enter the structure, and are treated to the sight of cages stacked on cages stacked on cages. The bars are solid black, inside them are countless creatures with a ball and chain tied to their leg. A bitter taste forms in Dark Pit’s throat.

“L-Luigi!?” Mario suddenly shouts. Dark Pit follows his gaze to see Luigi standing inside the cage, staring into the distance with a blank face.

“Father is in there too!” Lucina shouts. He turns to confirm that, yes, Chrom is indeed also inside the cage. He notes that Chrom’s trusty sword isn’t on his person.

“Poyo!” Kirby shouts and points at someone with one of his nubs. Dark Pit turns to look and freezes at the sight.

He should’ve expected that even a goddess can be confined, but he’s still shocked as he looks at the almost lifeless form of Palutena.

“What in the...” Dark Pit mutters, but stops himself before he lets out a swear in front of Kirby.

“Why are you out there, Pittoo?” Palutena says, her voice calm and... satisfied? “Come on in, there’s enough room here for everyone.”

“What...” Dark Pit mutters, then takes a breath before speaking louder, “What are you saying?”

“Come on, bro, it’s so calm and safe here,” Luigi says, reaching a gloved hand out towards Mario. Palutena turns to look and stays quiet.

“Why, why are you there?” Mario asks, stumbling on his words. It’s a first for the hero.

“It feels safe here, not needing to think and make decisions,” Luigi says, not moving an inch from where he stands.

“Do you understand how hard it is being a goddess?” Palutena says, her tone calm yet dead. “Having to make so many choices every day, it’s tiring even for me.”

This isn’t Palutena. She would never say those words.

“This is all wrong,” Zelda says, taking a step back with her hands balled into fists.

“Agreed,” Samus says, looking away from someone she had been staring at.

“Who did this...?” Isabelle asks as she trembles a little. It seems she had been trying to talk to the villagers.

“I think we all have an idea,” Fox says with crossed arms.

“I would hope so.”

Dark Pit turns in the direction of the voice and draws his bow. His arms shake slightly (from anger, _from anger_ ) as he points the tip of his arrow at Joker.

“It would be no fun otherwise,” Joker says, raising a hand to cover his mouth. Dark Pit smiles when he sees the barrel of Fox’s and Samus’ gun also pointed at Joker.

“You’re the one behind this,” Samus says, she doesn’t ask. Kirby lets out a sound in anger, and Dark Pit can’t help but agree with him.

Joker’s reply starts with a chuckle and ends with a smile. He lowers his hand and all they see is that crooked, wrong smirk.

“Not going to tell us about your evil plan or whatever?” Fox asks with a mocking tone, his gun still on Joker.

“I like to think it’s obvious,” Joker says, slouching to the side as he places a hand on his hip. The tails of his trench coat flow like dark, black liquid.

“Obvious?” Lucina asks with her sword unsheathed. She holds it at her side as she glares at him.

“One universe just isn’t enough, sweetie,” Joker says, his voice sounding distorted. He tilts his head to the side, looking at them with something inhuman in his lead grey eyes.

The fire in Dark Pit burns to a degree, and he lets go of his arrow. He doesn’t hear the satisfying sound of an arrow sticking into flesh, but instead it hits the black wall and falls to the ground.

Joker is in the air.

“It’s showtime,” Joker says with a laugh. His dagger appears in his hand and his gun in the other, sending a barrage of bullets their way.

Dark Pit dodges with a swipe of his wing and fires another arrow. Joker swats it away with his dagger and lands on the ground with a tap.

They charge.

* * *

It’s hard to tell if it was part of his plan, or if he genuinely underestimated them, but Joker flees from their battle. Because they are competitors, they know each other’s move sets well and choose to compliment each other. Covering another’s weakness as they beat him down.

Dark Pit has no intention of letting him go, and the others agree as they give chase down the dark halls.

Joker knows his way around this place, because he throws them obstacle after obstacle in an attempt to slow them down. By the time they catch up to him, all the damage they’ve done will be healed. He refuses to let their efforts go to waste.

Dark Pit snarls as they follow Joker’s footsteps, he doesn’t like how he’s hesitating with each step he takes. Like he’s intimidated.

“The air here is wrong,” Zelda says, she clutches her hand that holds the Triforce.

“What in Naga’s name is this place?” Lucina asks as she looks up. Dark Pit has to hold back a gasp as he follows her gaze.

The place looks like a temple, but it’s not a holy one. Red light shines from every corner, pointing towards the large golden cup sat in the middle of the round arena. Joker stands right beside it, a hand placed on the cup.

Dark Pit jumps down the steps and lands right in front of Joker. The rest follow after him, but he doesn’t look back.

“There’s nowhere left to run,” he says, drawing his bow once again. Joker looks up from the cup and retracts his hand with a mutter.

Joker lets out a little laugh as Dark Pit feels the rest stand beside him.

“There’s no need to,” Joker says as he moves his hand upwards. Dark Pit moves the tip of his arrow to follow his hand.

In one smooth rip, Joker tears off his mask and the demon appears behind him. The demon lets out a hollow laugh, then it _changes_.

Dark Pit’s hands tremble as the demon becomes what he can only describe as an eldritch abomination. Just like what they’ve seen when Joker uses his Final Smash.

The bones sprouted from its red clothing move like cracking its fingers, the bone claws reek of burnt metal. The red cobwebs on the feathers glow as the wings flap. The eyes shine golden as the demon’s mouth opens to roar, when they close it sounds like the door of a cage.

“He’s serious,” Mario says, gathering fire in his hand. The rest get into fighting positions, Dark Pit braces his wings as he draws his bow further.

“If you don’t want to join the cage like the rest of them, I’ll just have to make you,” Joker says. Without his mask, his eyes shine the same golden as both the cup and the demon above him.

Dark Pit grits his teeth as his hands tremble before the power in front of him, almost taking a step back when Joker’s dagger is covered in a dark, black energy.

Lucina charges with her trusty sword, and they begin their fight once again. Joker is a lot stronger this time with support from the demon, not to mention the extra bones they have to avoid.

The fight goes on and on, to the point where Dark Pit has to take a step back to catch his breath. While he does, he feels eyes on him. He looks around, but notices no one watching other than the large golden cup in the distance.

Now that he’s looking at it more, the large golden cup has a large amount of wires connected to the top of it. The wires glow red, and he sees Joker hit harder as some of his wounds heal with a red glow. The golden cup is helping him.

Just as he realises this, Zelda slides back towards him with perfect timing. He reaches out with an arm to steady her, wouldn’t want her to fall and get wounded even more.

“Thank you, Dark Pit,” Zelda says, and with a shake of her head she looks ready to get back in action. Dark Pit holds up a hand to stop her.

“Is something wrong?” Zelda asks, glancing at him before keeping her eyes on the fight. At the corner of his eye, Dark Pit sees Joker become a black blur.

“The cup, its wires are strengthening and healing Joker,” Dark Pit says, glancing at the golden cup. “I’ll cut them, distract him.”

Zelda nods and with a wave of her hand, constructs her black knight to charge towards the fury. Dark Pit moves as quickly as possible, praying that he isn’t going to be discovered anytime soon.

He reaches the golden cup, and just as he’s ready to fly upwards, a sound behind him makes him turn and ready his weapon.

“Poyo!” Kirby says as he raises his two nubs in surrender. Dark Pit lets out a breath.

“Don’t sneak up on me like that,” Dark Pit mutters. Kirby points to the golden cup and tilts his head—body?—to one side in confusion.

“I need to cut the wires on top,” Dark Pit says, pointing to the red wires. Kirby looks, then nods twice.

They end up in the air, Dark Pit on one side and Kirby on the other. He readies his bow, and in the place of Kirby’s nub is a sword made of white energy.

They charge through the wires, slashing them all as they go. Their paths cross and they form a pretty ‘X’ pattern that does the job of disconnecting all the wires.

When Dark Pit lands, he hears a frustrated sound from Joker. It seems his observation was correct, and now everything should be much easier to handle.

With Joker unable to heal, Dark Pit and Kirby join the rest and they take him down. Their fight finally ends when the demon disappears and Joker falls onto one knee. He’s as beaten and battered as the rest of them, but they still have the energy to fight.

“You lose,” Samus says with her gun still pointed at him. Fox and Dark Pit also point their weapons at him for good measure.

“Please turn everyone back to normal!” Isabelle says with her hands cupped together. Joker doesn’t listen to her, doesn’t even look at them as he tries to get up.

“Give it up,” Dark Pit says, drawing his bow further. He’ll put an arrow into each of his legs if that’ll keep him down.

“Or what?” Joker spits out, standing up only to fall back down. His eyes are still shining golden, only slightly covered by his white mask.

“We’ll take you to the Hands,” Mario says with his hands by his sides.

Joker doesn’t respond as he continues to kneel with one leg. His palms are braced on the ground to support himself, his mouth opening to mutter something Dark Pit doesn’t pick up.

“The Hands made a mistake in choosing you,” Fox says, his gun glowing with energy.

Joker laughs. “He’s not wrong, you know,” he says, but it sounds like he’s not talking to them.

When he looks up, Dark Pit immediately realises something is wrong.

Joker’s red gloves are glowing, he realises. He opens his mouth to warn the rest, but it doesn’t seem he needs to when they hear a snap in the air.

The Hands float above them and with a snap, Joker disappears. Dark Pit turns and realises the large golden cup has also disappeared along with the red wires.

“First of all, thank you for defeating him,” Master Hand says, his voice loud and ethereal as always. “It seems we have made a grave mistake and sent the invitation to the wrong Joker.”

“What do you mean?” Mario asks, Dark Pit squints at the Hands as he keeps quiet.

“His universe also has many alternate versions,” Master Hand continues to explain, “it seems we sent it to one that was malevolent.”

“So it was your fault?” Lucina asks, pointing a finger at the Hands. Dark Pit understands her anger, but he doesn’t have a death wish.

“Correct,” Crazy Hand says, “it was fun watching him try to outsmart us, until he did.”

“The Holy Grail had buried its roots into this universe without our knowing, and by the time we realised, it was already strong enough to subdue us,” Master Hand continues, he stops to point to the two hand statues standing at the side.

“So we had to place our hope in you fighters!” Crazy Hand says, the excitement still in his voice. “Lucky you guys were strong, or the multiverse would’ve been doomed!”

“Poyo!” Kirby says with his nubs in the air. He seems happy due to the praise.

“Wait, what Holy Grail?” Zelda asks with her hand in the air.

“The large golden cup,” Master Hand says, “it is also a godlike entity.”

“He was working with it?” Fox asks, lowering his gun as he lets out a breath.

“Yes, they were in collaboration,” Master Hand says. Then with a snap of his fingers, the red lights disappear and they are plunged into darkness.

Before they can panic, the lights come back on. Instead of ominous red lights, the lights are the simple white they’re familiar with.

“Go back to the hotel,” Master Hand says. Crazy Hand turns towards the statues in the distance, and even without eyes, they can feel the glare that’s being given to the statues. Once again, Dark Pit feels lucky that the Hands are on their side.

“Wait! What’s going to happen to everyone?” Isabelle asks, worry still in her voice.

“Do not worry, everything will return to how it used to be,” Master Hand says. With a final nod, he snaps and they’re carried out of the depths of some version of hell by teleportation magic.

When Dark Pit opens his eyes again, they are standing beside the teleportation gate that leads to the stages. He’s still injured and needs to go see Doctor Mario, but he instead lets out a breath as he lets himself collapse onto the ground.


	2. Aftermath

Hiding in an inconspicuous place in the large ballroom, he closes his eyes and lets out a breath. As he crouches, he checks the items on his person. Gun, dagger, mask. Everything on him and ready to go. Morgana is hiding on the other side of the room, near the light switch.

Ren lets out another breath. It’s just a tournament with at least seventy participants that spans across the entire multiverse. He’ll do fine, hopefully.

Morgana sees him wallowing in anxiety and gives him a thumbs-up from across the room. At least Morgana is by his side.

When he hears the countless footsteps blending together, he ducks back into his hiding spot. He doesn’t see the fighters come in, but he certainly hears the footsteps and low chatter.

He listens close as he waits for the signal. The fighters all seem tense for some reason. He was informed that new challengers mean lots of energy and excitement, but it doesn’t seem to be the case.

“Do you think it’s the same person?” A male’s voice says, sounding grave and cautious.

“It’s hard to judge,” Another male’s voice says, Ren is unsure if it’s a reply to the previous voice. There’s too many voices drifting across the room.

He hears more unsure chatter until the voices change from nervous to frightened.

“Is it happening again!?” A female voice shouts in terror.

“Whoever closed the lights, this isn’t funny!” A male’s voice shouts.

Ren doesn’t wait any longer, he escapes from his hiding place and steps onto the ballroom floor. The sound of his boots tapping against the hard floor resounds through the now silent room.

He waits for the spotlight to turn on and land on him before he moves his hand.

“Persona!” He shouts as he rips off his mask. The familiar blue flames lick at his feet as Arsene materializes behind him, a familiar laugh as his first greeting.

“I am Thou, and Thou Art I,” Arsene says, unfurling his wings and sending wind cutting through the ballroom. The fighters are stunned in place.

Arsene departs after a final laugh, but Ren still hears it echo in his mind. The mask reappears on his face and the lights turn back on.

“Looking cool, Joker!” Morgana cheers as he stands on top of a table.

That cheer is what seems to make the fighters move again, Ren gives them a smile despite his nervousness.

“Welcome to the Super Smash Brothers Tournament, Joker,” the disembodied voice known as the Announcer says. With no direction to face, he looks to the fighters as he nods.

He’s not given a chance to say anything when he hears the sound of someone drawing a sword.

“So you’re back,” a girl with long blue hair says as she points her sword at him. “I won’t let you take over this world again!”

“Lucina wait–,"

The voice is cut off as the girl charges with her sword ready to swing. Ren is caught off guard, but he listens to Arsene’s voice as he brings out his dagger and gun to get ready to block.

Luckily, he doesn’t need to. A translucent barrier stops the girl from coming for him. Morgana’s slingshot is still aimed at her when he reaches Ren’s side.

“What sort of greeting is this!?” Morgana shouts as he takes a step forward. Most of the fighters in the room look hostile and ready to fight.

“Keep your sword,” a loud and ethereal voice says, and the girl—Lucina?—takes a step back.

A giant floating hand appears in front of Ren and Morgana, and both of them take a step back. He holds his dagger and gun close to his body as he watches.

The hand lets out a sigh. “There seems to be a misunderstanding,” the hand starts, “this is the real Joker that our invitation is addressed to, not the one you’ve met before.”

Real Joker? One they’ve met before? What are they talking about?

“What’s he talking about?” Morgana asks as he turns to Ren. Ren shakes his head and Morgana turns back to glare at the fighters. He hopes the fright isn’t showing in his eyes.

“I urge you to reconsider your thoughts towards our new fighter,” the hand says, then he turns to Ren. “Come with me, I will provide an explanation.”

Ren looks to the hand and then looks at the fighters. It would be safer than staying in this ballroom, in any case. He nods.

The hand doesn’t command twice as it floats towards a door that opens by itself. Ren doesn’t look back as he turns to exit the room, only putting his weapons away when he reaches what he assumes to be the hand’s office.

Morgana is close by his side when they enter the office. By the time they exit, Morgana is on his shoulders and patting his head. Ren doesn’t let the tight grip on his dagger go until his back hits the door of his hotel room.

* * *

The atmosphere in the cafeteria changes when he steps into it, but he holds his breath as he trudges on. The eyes on him feel like pricks in his skin, the air in the room so tense you can cut it away with a dagger. It feels familiar and it makes his stomach churn.

He tries to not show it. Ren takes his food and sits at the empty corner table, Morgana obediently sitting beside him. He lets out a breath when he sits down.

Yet the eyes are still on him, it feels like their gazes will become marks on his skin. He moves his hands to his lap and grips them as hard as he can away from cold eyes.

He’s been keeping to himself, trying to avoid the other fighters outside of battle so they don’t startle and aren’t frightened. This is when he starts to doubt his actions, when the hotel starts to feel like Shujin Academy all over again.

Arsene is quiet today, and Ren doesn’t blame him after the defeat they suffered yesterday. He would’ve liked the distraction, maybe then he wouldn’t feel like an animal trapped in a cage.

He startles when Morgana puts his paw on top of his hands. He loosens his grip and sees the fingernail marks on his hand. Pathetic.

“Come on,” Morgana says. Ren watches as Morgana grabs his food and begins walking away from the table. When it’s evident Morgana won’t wait for him, he scrambles to grab his tray and follow.

He focuses on his breathing as he follows Morgana towards their destination. By the time Morgana exits the hotel, he has his breathing and feelings in check.

Morgana leads him to the garden behind the hotel. He turns the corner, towards the table and chairs made of marble placed under the shade of a large tree. Morgana jumps up onto the table and wipes the leaves away with a flick of his tail.

When Morgana places his food onto the table, Ren follows without thinking too much about it. He takes a seat, and Morgana sits beside him.

Morgana doesn’t say a word and instead begins digging into his food. As he recovers from his churning stomach, Ren takes slow bites out of his own. He only starts speaking after he feels slightly better.

“How did you discover this place?” Ren asks as he looks around. The shadow of the tree blocks most of the harsh sunlight from reaching them, the breeze enough to combat any lingering heat.

“It’s a perfect spot to be outside, especially for naps,” Morgana says after swallowing a mouthful. Ren wonders when Morgana had the time to scout for such a place, but doesn’t ask.

“Catnaps?” Ren asks instead, and is retorted with Morgana’s famous line. It makes him laugh a little.

He expects the rest of his lunch break to be used up like that, sitting in a quiet place with Morgana. But then Morgana twitches his ear and turns in the direction of the path they took.

Ren follows his gaze to see a long haired girl with a white and red hat on her head frozen in place with a tray of food in her hands. Ren also freezes at the sight of her, until Morgana extends his claws and hisses at her.

“Morgana,” Ren scolds as he gives him the best glare he can muster. It works, Morgana retracts his claws and shrinks.

“It–, it’s okay! I can leave if you want me to!” the girl says, but it sounds forced. Ren looks to her tray with an almost mountain pile of food on it. Surely she’s not thinking of finishing it all by herself?

“What do you want from us?” Morgana asks with crossed arms. Ren watches as the girl lowers her head, then looks back up with a glint of something in her eyes.

“I grabbed too much food, so I want to share,” the girl says, then backpedals as she realises something. “You can refuse if you want! I don’t want to force you or anything...”

Ren looks to Morgana, and Morgana looks back before turning to squint at the girl. It doesn’t seem like she’s here to hurl insults at him, at least.

It wouldn’t hurt to take a chance.

“Sure,” Ren says, and the girl beams. She places her tray closer to the centre of the table as she sits directly across him. Morgana uncrosses his arms, but still watches her closely.

“Oh, I haven’t introduced myself yet,” the girl says, then she points a finger to herself. “I’m Leaf, though during fights I’m called ‘Pokémon Trainer’ with Red.”

Ren nods, she goes on. Morgana watches.

“I don’t really fight in battles, but you’ll see my Pokémon on the field. Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard are very tough! Oh, but they already ate and are outside here somewhere,” she gestures as she talks, pointing towards one vague direction as to where they might be. Ren wonders if it’s a nervous habit, or if she’s always this animated.

“And... you’re Joker, right?” Leaf asks, sounding unsure as she looks at the trays on the table.

“Call me Ren outside of fights,” Ren says, then takes a mouthful of food.

“I’m Morgana,” Morgana says, less enthusiastic than he usually is. It looks like he’s still eyeing her.

“It’s nice to meet you, Ren and Morgana!” Leaf says, clapping her hands. “I’ll introduce you to my Pokémon some other time.”

Ren nods. She pushes the tray with a mountain of food towards him, and he looks to Morgana instead. There’s no way he’s going to finish that entire thing without help.

Morgana sighs then takes some of the food onto his tray. Ren smiles as Leaf lets out a giggle. Leaf continues on with the conversation, and as usual Ren sits there and attentively listens.

She talks for a while until she runs out of things to talk about. Ren watches as she bites her lip while looking downwards. Morgana lets out a questioning hum.

“I–, I want to apologise, for avoiding you and being unfriendly,” she says, bowing her head as much as she can with a table in front of her. “I can’t talk for the other fighters, but I’m sorry. Red still doesn’t seem to understand, but I’m sure he’ll apologise soon, too.”

Ren stares at the top of her white cap as he processes her words. He’s surprised she turned around so quickly. The Hands didn’t explain in detail what that other Joker did to the fighters, but there’s no way they would get over the incident at the drop of a hat. It’ll be unreasonable, even if their behaviour makes him bitter.

He feels guilty even though he wasn’t the one to break their trust, but their reactions are only human. No one should be to blame for this situation.

“It’s okay,” Ren says. He smiles when she lifts her head back up. “It’s... complicated.”

“Yeah, it’s complicated,” Leaf says, then lets out a little nervous laugh. “This isn’t what I expected when I joined this new rendition of the tournament.”

“You’ve joined the past ones?” Morgana asks, ears perked in interest.

“Yup!” Leaf says, then excitedly goes on about her past adventures and experiences with the past Super Smash Tournaments. She talks about her adventure with the other fighters against Tabuu, who was trying to turn all of them into trophies and doom the multiverse.

Ren spends the rest of his break listening to Leaf. At the end of their lunch break, he thinks he’s gained a new friend, and that his experiences in this hotel won’t be always hidden under shadows anymore.

* * *

The last time the masked thief was here, he stole the hearts of the entire multiverse and trapped their minds in a prison. Lucina had sounded so relieved when he was back to normal, she recounted her story as she hugged him with trembling hands. There was no way he was letting the thief repeat it all again.

Or something along those lines. All those thoughts are probably what has ran through Chrom’s head, and this is exactly why Robin is making his way towards the victory room.

Robin enters the room and stands beside Lucina. He gets a front row seat when Joker extends a hand out for Chrom to shake.

“It was a good game,” Joker says, his tone hiding something that Robin can’t identify from this distance.

Chrom looks at Joker and his offered hand, and then he does the most heartless thing Robin could ever imagine him doing. Chrom reaches out and slaps Joker’s hand away. Joker flinches.

“Stay away from my family,” Chrom says with a look. Joker seems to recoil as he takes a step back.

When Chrom walks over to Robin and Lucina, there is instead a tight smile on his face. Robin doesn’t know how Lucina feels right now, but he doesn’t hesitate as he grabs Chrom’s hand and drags him out of the room.

Chrom seems concerned as he continues dragging him, but he doesn’t answer any of his questions until they reach one of the side lobbies. He needs a quiet place to have this conversation.

“Chrom,” Robin says with as much disappointment he can put in his voice. It seems to work, Chrom jumps in place.

“Y-yes?” Chrom says, sounding like a kid that has been caught stealing.

“There is no need to be so hard on him,” Robin says, and Chrom looks ready to retort, but Robin holds up a hand to stop him.

Chrom still goes on, “He was the one that sealed us in that prison! Did you not hear what Lucina said?”

Robin holds in a sigh. Chrom is sometimes too predictable.

“Yes, I did,” Robin says, grabbing a familiar tome into his hands.

“Then you should understand!” Chrom shouts. He sounds so heartbroken, as if Robin betrayed his trust and stabbed him in the heart.

“Chrom, listen to me,” Robin says with the most grave tone he can muster while fiddling with a tome in his hands. Chrom shuts his mouth, but doesn’t look pleased.

“Do you remember the other Robin, the one that chose to become Grima from Lucina’s future?” Robin starts. At Chrom’s nod, he proceeds. “That other Robin did horrible acts, forcing Lucina to come to our timeline. Do you still follow me?”

Chrom hesitates, but he nods. Robin nods back before he continues.

“Do you blame that other Robin’s choice on me?” Robin asks, holding his tome in place with his hands. He looks up from his hands to see Chrom’s shock.

“I would never!” Chrom says, swiping his hand away from himself. “I don’t understand what happened to that Robin, but he was the one to choose his path, not you!”

Robin nods, then says, “Then why isn’t that the case for Joker?”

At his words, Chrom falls silent. Robin waits patiently for Chrom to understand, looking around the lobby with his time. Lucina is standing by the corridor.

“You’re... you’re right, Robin. You’re always right,” Chrom says, hanging his head in defeat. Robin closes his eyes then opens them. He holds up his tome and gently knocks Chrom on the head with it.

“I’m not, but I’m glad you finally understand,” Robin says as he retrieves his tome. Chrom holds a hand over the spot that was knocked.

Chrom blinks a few times as he looks at Robin, then a second later he seems to jump in place. Like he just remembered something important.

“I–, I’ll see you later!” Chrom yells as he turns and runs into the first corridor he sees. Robin doesn’t move as Chrom disappears into the corridor, waits as Lucina walks over to him.

“Will father be all right?” Lucina asks when she gets close enough. Robin gives her a smile, holding his tome close to his chest.

“He’ll be fine, there’s no need to worry,” Robin says, reaching out a hand to pat Lucina’s head. She blushes but doesn’t shy away from his touch.

The next time Robin sees Chrom, it’s in the main lobby. Chrom is bowed in front of a seated Joker, who has an open book in his hands. Joker looks taken aback by Chrom’s bow, waving his raised hand as he tells Chrom to get up.

Robin can’t help but smile as Chrom gets up and asks Joker to accept his apology. He covers his mouth when Joker’s cat companion comes in and demands Chrom to find them a gift or suffer kitty scratches.

* * *

The story from Lucina and what Ike remembers paints a terrifying picture in her head. She knows that the Hands had said to them that this Joker was the right one, but it’s not easy to get the terrifying picture out of her head.

And that is why Corrin has been trying her best to stay away from Joker as much as she can. She knows it’s the coward’s way out and Leon would scold her silly for it, but it’s the best she can do while she tries to erase that first impression out of her mind.

She’s been successful for an amount of time, until one day she wakes up in the middle of the night with her throat parched beyond what she can stand.

And so Corrin crawls out of her bed, puts on simple slippers, and heads down the hotel to the shared kitchen. There’s a bad feeling in her gut as she walks down the corridor, but she chooses to ignore it.

A mistake.

She reaches the kitchen only to see someone inside, standing by the counters with a mug in their hand. Drowsiness and her one track mind lead her to what the fighters call a ‘water dispenser’ with a glass in her hand.

She presses the glass against the handle, and the machine dispenses refreshing water for her. The person beside her stands unnervingly still, but she doesn’t pay them any mind as she chugs down the glass of water.

The water enters her system, goes down her throat and gives her body some amount of energy. The energy goes to her brain and she realises the person beside her has curly black hair and is in loose pyjamas. There’s also a gaze on her.

She almost lets out a shriek when she realises that the one standing right beside her is Joker. She thankfully holds it in, but it’s a close thing.

With it being in the middle of the night, her mind runs wild with the sparse amount of energy given to it. Lucina and Ike both talked about the demon that Joker can call at will, how its true form has bones for appendages and wings that look like it could entrap anyone it wraps around.

Does it come out at night like a pet? Will it devour her now that no one else will see its gaping maw swallow her whole?

Never mind the fact that she is half-dragon and can probably fight out of it, the image of it is already enough to make her legs tremble. In the cover of night and her racing thoughts, she forgets that this isn’t the same Joker.

Despite her trembling legs, she takes a deep breath. Only when she hears footsteps does she dare to take a look at Joker. She fully expects to see golden eyes watching her like a predator watches their prey.

What she sees is instead a pair of big blue eyes staring at her, full of curiosity and childish wonder. The cat(?) blinks twice and twitches their ears as she stares at them.

The cat stands on Joker’s shoulder, so they disappear with him as he turns the corner. Corrin stands in place, an empty glass in her hand and confusion rolling throughout her entire being. That was not what she expected.

She stands there for another moment before she shakes her head. She can unravel what just happened in the morning, she’s too drowsy to think clearly enough.

She leaves the glass on the counter and goes back to her room. Her imagination must have tired her mind out, because the moment she falls onto her bed, she’s out like a light.

She dreams of petting a cat with black fur and big blue eyes.

* * *

After getting to know Chrom and Robin better, he’s invited to join the group of fighters that come from the same universe. Introductions go better than expected, and after a few bumps, he feels comfortable enough to join their group from time to time.

Not like it matters much. Ren is always the one quietly listening to their conversations, while Morgana is the one to do the talking. Old habits are hard to break.

He sits with the group in the cafeteria now, eating his lunch as he listens to the conversations around the table. Chrom seems to carrying the conversation, but Ren doesn’t pay too much attention to the topic at hand.

He’s glad he’s found a few friends, at any rate. After Chrom’s apology, he got to know Robin and his female counterpart Reflect enough to consider them friends. Leaf kept approaching him after that one time, and he knows Red enough to be acquaintances.

Then Bayonetta had caught him off guard, both figuratively and literally. She cornered him when he was practising with Morgana. She danced around the subject at first, but her genuine interest in him and concern caused his mask to crack as he recounted his story to her.

They’re good friends now. How could they not, with the similarities in their experiences? Ren never knew he would be fast friends with another god-slayer, but it seems this tournament is a place with something beyond magic.

It’s also filled with opportunities. This doesn’t leave his mind as the subject at the table switches to focus on Lucina.

She jumps in alarm when Chrom starts going on about something that happened in the past. Her face is as red as Joker’s gloves as she waves her hands in the air.

“Father!” Lucina shouts. Not in her anger that he’s so familiar with, but in embarrassment. Morgana snickers.

“But it’s true!” Chrom says, “You’re lucky Lissa isn’t here, or she would never let it go!”

Lucina still looks red as ever even as she calms down, and everyone at the table is giving their attention to her. She already looks embarrassed enough.

Morgana’s tail moves and prods Ren’s hand. He glances at the back of Morgana’s head, then back at Lucina.

He turns to Chrom and asks, “Who’s ‘Lissa’?”

“Oh, I haven’t told you?” Chrom asks, and Ren shakes his head. Chrom starts going on and on about his younger sister, who’s a princess but still helps their militia as a healer. Her mischievousness reminds him of Futaba a little.

As he listens to Chrom and the topic turns away from Lucina, he chances a glance at her. Her blush is gone now, but she’s looking at him with a complicated look in her eyes. She looks away when he catches her gaze.

Morgana prods him again and sneaks him a grin. He smiles back as he continues listening to the conversation, letting Morgana ask most of the questions.

After lunch, there’s a few fights scheduled for him. Being inside this multiverse tournament isn’t easy, especially when his first impression was ruined by another version of himself. But the future doesn’t look that dark anymore.

Even without the need for Confidants, he’ll do his best to carve a place out for himself. It’s just Tokyo all over again.


End file.
